2017.06.09 - Brétigny-sur-Orge, France - Download Paris

[RogueSoul]

One More Light is officially out, Linkin Park has performed to hundreds of thousands at a short South American Tour in May, the band has done plenty of promo, and they've been rehearsing for about a week.

And you better believe that we're only just warming up.

Linkin Park is back and ready for action! The band is kicking off their massive One More Light European Tour on June 9 in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France for Download Paris. This'll be the first time the band headlines the new festival.

We're all familiar with Linkin Park at England's Download festival - the site where in 2014 the band performed Hybrid Theory in full. This festival is taking place at the same time its UK counterpart is, which boasts System Of A Down, Biffy Clyro, and Aerosmith as headliners. Brétigny-sur-Orge is just south of Paris, a city that Linkin Park has treated very well over the years. Mike and Chester visited Paris earlier this year in March for some One More Light promo, where they performed a series of stripped-down tracks. They even played 'Battle Symphony' for the first time ever! The last full show the band performed was in November 2014 during The Hunting Party European Tour. A strong show indeed, the band performed plenty of fresh tracks from The Hunting Party like 'Guilty All The Same' and 'Final Masquerade' amongst others.

The live debut of 'Battle Symphony' from earlier this year at the promo event in Paris. The band are playing it full ban now, so don't expect to hear this version!

Paris has had some very epic moments that are hailed as legendary in the live community, though. This is the twelfth time the band is performing there, so it's no surprise that they've had some awesome shows there. The band's show in 2010 featured what is perhaps one of the most acclaimed moments in the band's live career: an impromptu performance of 'A Place For My Head' for the 10th anniversary of Hybrid Theory was played at this show. Not only was this the only full performance of the song on the A Thousand Suns touring cycle, but it was also a defining performance of the song. We like to use the term "exploded" to describe just how awesome some performances can be, but this performance pretty much defined that term. You don't see something as massive as this performance very often. Mike on the barrier with the crowd, Chester roaring the bridge, Brad's iconic riff sending chills down everyone's spine... it truly is a defining moment for the band's live career (which is also why we really need to see this song back in the set - and not as a bonus inclusion during the 'Castle Of Glass' Experience outro). Other cool moments from the past in Paris: the band played their very first show in Europe in 2001 in Paris and they added 'Step Up' into the set later that same year. In 2008, the band performed in Paris as well, bringing out 'A Place For My Head' and a rare performance of 'In Between.'

Just. Disgusting. This mental performance of 'A Place For My Head' from Paris 2010 truly redefined what it means for this band to jam.

From what we can tell, the band's legacy in Paris is going to continue at this show. More than half of One More Light has already been performed live at shows: 'Heavy,' 'Good Goodbye,' 'Battle Symphony,' 'Invisible,' 'Talking To Myself,' and 'One More Light.' On top of that, it looks like the band is adding another new song to the setlist! Chester has all but confirmed that 'Sharp Edges' has at least been rehearsed, after correcting the official Linkin Park Twitter on what song he was playing in this picture (turns out he'll be playing guitar on 'Sharp Edges'). Additionally, it looks like another new song is coming to the set, though we're less certain about which song this'll be. Mike posted on Instagram that he is rehearsing a new song that has him playing the keyboard while singing live, something which he didn't do in the studio. There's not much place for keys on 'Sharp Edges,' so its definitely possible it's a completely different song. Based on the picture, we guessed he was playing 'Sorry For Now...' but he ended up shutting that down by downright commenting it's not that song. The photo isn't guaranteed to be a photo of him playing the song (it's most likely him playing 'Heavy'), so we've pretty much gathered all we can about that. This is a mystery we might not be solving until show time.

Or not. With all the new songs and the amount of rehearsing the band has done, distinct rotating sets might be making a comeback. There will definitely be a "Festival" set and a "Headline" set, just like there was in South America earlier this year (the "Festival" version of the set was shorter, omitting 'Waiting For The End,' 'Invisible,' and 'One More Light,' and also featured an intro of 'Fallout' into 'The Catalyst' rather than 'Fallout' and 'Talking To Myself,' which is what opens the headline set), but it's becoming more and more likely that there will be two different setlists. This was the case in 2012 - the festival set was much different for the European Summer Tour that year, opening with 'A Place For My Head' and featured 'From The Inside,' while the headlining set featured 'Blackout' and an opening of 'Tinfoil' followed by 'Faint,' among other differences. With the sheer amount of songs the band seem to be performing this cycle from the new album alone, rotating setlists might be a key to keeping shows interesting every night and playing as much as the album as they can live (which has evidently been a problem for past records).

Of course, if the band doesn't change up the setlists, we don't have many complaints - they have a pretty great one already built, and it's still pretty fresh. The high-energy opening may seem like a bit of a clusterfuck, with 'The Catalyst,' 'Wastelands,' 'Talking To Myself,' and 'Burn It Down' all featuring as the first few songs in some order, but it really gets the energy going. Other treats (in the headline set, at least) include the brand new intro to 'Waiting For The End' which features a mashup of 'Remember The Name' and elements from the song, the powerful slow section with the stripped down 'Crawling' and the beautiful 'One More Light' (which hasn't left a dry eye in the room ever since the performance dedicated to Chris Cornell at Jimmy Kimmel Live). And no one has ever complained about what is arguably the centerpiece of the entire set: the new live version of 'Leave Out All The Rest.' Talk about epic.

No matter how many times you watch this performance of 'One More Light,' your bound to feel at least a little emotional. The band really set a new standard for emotion here.

If you're in France and catch the show, don't fret - the band will be back sooner than later. Sooner than you think, in fact; the band headlines the Hellfest in Clisson on the 18th - the first time the band has performed two shows in France since 2008. Tickets might still be hard to come by even then, but you can definitely be sure the band will come back to Paris again before long. Perhaps not in 2017, but maybe the band will hit up Europe again in 2018. They seem eager to be back on the road after being pent up in the studio for so long; this tour is one of the longest tours the band has done in Europe in years (it matches the length of the Minutes To Midnight Summer European Tour in 2008, which held the record until now). A massive North American Tour is coming this summer, with Asia coming into play in November (though as things draw nearer... where are more dates? Only three shows in Japan have been announced thus far).

There's already some stuff going on in France that'll be fun. Mike and Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 did a keynote address at the midem music conference in Cannes today, talking about new music and even making a beat. You can check that out here - the music making happens around the four minute mark, but don't miss the fun discussions they have during the event.

Blink-182 is performing at the festival before Linkin Park, so maybe we'll see this performed live! Kidding. Maybe. You never know with Mike Shinoda in charge, this man had the idea to mashup 'Fallout' and 'Roads Untraveled' as an intro this year. He can do anything. Blink-182 has been touring extensively for the past year in support of their newest record California, which came out last July. They just released the deluxe edition of the album, featuring 10 new tracks. They're starting their new European leg at this show too, so we're not 100% sure what they'll play, but recent setlists show that classics like 'All The Small Things' and 'I Miss You' will likely be in the mix. Linkin Park and Blink-182 are playing two shows together this summer in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Flushing, New York as part of their "Welcome To Blinkin Park" events - let's hope this is just a welcoming, and that more is to come! Also performing are Pierce The Veil and Norwegian heavy metalers Kvelertak.

Watch Blink-182's Travis Barker duke it out on the drums during 'Bleed It Out' with the band during the 2014 Concert For The Philippines show. Will we see more collaborations happen between the bands soon?

Who's going to the show? Unfortunately there will not be a livestream, but we will keep you updated on the setlist and potential Periscope streams on our social media - be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates. We're also on Snapchat now, so add us there for treats. After this show, the band heads to the Czech Republic for their first show there since 2008 for the Aerodrome Festival on the 11th before playing a headlining show at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on the 12th.

Check out the rest of Linkin Park's 2017 touring schedule here.

[RiderSSPU]

Just read this entire post. Well written and very insightful.

 

Good job! I'm excited to see what the presumably new setlist will be

[stich]

Just read this entire post. Well written and very insightful.

 

Good job! I'm excited to see what the presumably new setlist will be

If I have to guess, I think they will remove Crawling for whatever new song they will play and slighty different track order.

Maybe will get headline and festival set but just like 2012 not much different

Edited June 8, 2017 by stich

[marzo23]

There is nothing on the DL France site about the timetable of this festival but only 4 bands on the main stage, so LP will maybe play a whole setlist with ~100 minutes. I except the same setlist like Peru and Chile plus Sharp Edges somewhere in the middle.

[hahninator]

My guess is full set but they change a few things. Dropping something like Crawling for Sharp Edges.

Then a second set somewhere with more heavy stuff.

[marzo23]

My guess is full set but they change a few things. Dropping something like Crawling for Sharp Edges.

Then a second set somewhere with more heavy stuff.

So than I will get the soft shit on Monday?! LOOOL

[Mesck547]

My guess is full set but they change a few things. Dropping something like Crawling for Sharp Edges.

Then a second set somewhere with more heavy stuff.

Did they actually have time to reharse a new set? Rehearsals only started about a week ago...

[marzo23]

In the past they praticed in the rehearsals more than the 20-30 songs which played live at the concerts! Like the list of songs which maybe played in China in 2015. There were around 40 songs on the list!

 

And a new setlist has not to be completely different. They also played 3 different setlists in 2007 and 2008 but the most of the songs were the same and so they could do this now too.

[Catalyst619]

I don't think there won't be any other sets with significant changes. They'll add Sharp Edges and possibly another song or two to the set, but there will simply be a headlining set and a festival set, with the festival set having a few less songs and a slightly different order. (Just like they've done thus far).

 

I don't know, I'm very pessimistic about this kind of stuff.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Catalyst619

[hahninator]

Did they actually have time to reharse a new set? Rehearsals only started about a week ago...

 

They rehearsed almost nonstop in January and February, weeks and weeks of rehearsing to figure out all of this stuff. Surely they prepared more than just these songs.

 

It's their largest European headlining tour ever, if they don't rotate setlists that is really disappointing.

[RiderSSPU]

My guess is full set but they change a few things. Dropping something like Crawling for Sharp Edges.

Then a second set somewhere with more heavy stuff.

Mike said the new songs won't replace the old songs.

 

Get rid of Wastelands for Sharp Edges

 

Or get rid of another OML for Sharp Edges.

 

Keep Crawling.

[marzo23]

WASTELANDS!!!!!!!!!!! MUST STAY !!!

[Mesck547]

It's their largest European headlining tour ever, if they don't rotate setlists that is really disappointing.

I agree. But I think that if they do rotate setlists, it'll be similar to how they did it on the THP tour with two sets that aren't too different from each other.

[Catalyst619]

 

Get rid of Wastelands for Sharp Edges

 

Please no..

 

Don't kill the last ounce of THP representation on this set.

[NimaLP]

I don't think anything surprising will happen. They just do a few minor changes to the set and boom, "Let's keep it until 2018!"

Edited June 9, 2017 by NimaLP

[JJJ]

Hope to see Final Masquerade return in the set, one of the best songs of THP in my opinion.

Edited June 9, 2017 by JJJ

[RiderSSPU]

Please no..

 

Don't kill the last ounce of THP representation on this set.

I'd rather kill that song than any of the HT/M/MTM/ATS songs they play

[hahninator]

Wastelands is the weakest song in the set besides the OML songs.

[KeysToTheLinkinPark]

They should have kept Final Masquerade...

[Justin]

They should have kept Final Masquerade...

I agree with that.

[Catalyst619]

Wastelands is the weakest song in the set besides the OML songs.

 

IMO New Divide is weaker. Not that it'll go away any time soon.

[RiderSSPU]

Wastelands is the weakest song in the set besides the OML songs.

This. So many better choices from THP.

[hahninator]

OSC. https://www.facebook.com/RockUrLifeNET/videos/1407503009317405/

[DaweLP1]

OSC. https://www.facebook.com/Rockurlifenet/videos/1407503009317405/

They have started with OSC????

[GlassCastles]

No. Headlining set from South America so far